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Yesterday I had to make potage parmentier, leek and potato soup, for a dinner party of a dozen people. I often get invited to make soup for parties. Leek and potato soup is a very simple thing to make. My variations were minor -- I put in a turnip, some thyme, some milk, and some chicken broth. After watching a couple of YouTube videos in French I decided to imitate the chefs I saw and used a very fine dice on the leek and potato -- I think the concept is that it makes the puree-ing process easier at the end. And I saw them use a chinois for straining at the end, so I also did that. I pureed with my immersion blender. I had never used it on a large pot of soup and it was great the way I could lower it into the center of the pan, position it about an inch from the bottom, and watch the whole pan of soup go into circulation, being pulled up at the center by the blender and flowing out and down at the edge of the pan. One little problem -- I had put the thyme in cheesecloth, and forgot to remove it, so it took me 15 minutes to get the "bandage" off my blender blade. Using the chinois gave the soup a velvety elegant texture that everyone really loved. I like that soup with a rougher texture as well but this was an elegant "French" dinner with all of the recipes from Julia Child cookbooks. Louise made the "bombe aux trois chocolates" from one of the Julia and Company books. Delish.

I picked a bunch of beautiful Swiss Chard from the garden this morning. Will do a quick sauté with fresh garlic, butter and fresh lemon juice. Also on the menu is a sauté of broccoli rabe. Main course is Fusilli with fresh tomatoes, basil, parsley, garlic balsamic, shrimp, red scallions, evoo, and a sprinkle of Romano.

We smoked a rubbed rack of St Louis ribs for four hours today over hickory chips. We sauced it with a tangy BBQ sauce and ate half of it with baked sweet potatoes. Saved the rest and leftover sauce for another day. Washed it down with a nice brew. Yum.

Making Anadama Bread. Right now it's in its first rise. This is a bread we just found out about this summer in New England and is our "new favorite."Also have a pot of chicken soup on the stove and am resting some homemade egg noodle dough that will go in when the broth is done.

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

I've had a bit of a head cold lately and there was a smoked ham hock in the fridge, so I decided to make soup. Simmered the hock in chicken broth until it loosened up. Pulled it out, cut the meat off of it (and there was a lot of meat) and threw it back into the pot. Skimmed the broth. Softened some onion, garlic, carrots, and celery in a little EVOO and threw then in. Threw in a pound of green lentils and let that simmer until they were done. At that point, I put in some peas.

It came out beautifully, mostly due to the great flavor from the ham hock. As I sit here, I'm trying to avoid serving myself a fourth bowl of the stuff.

Carrie L. wrote:Making Anadama Bread. Right now it's in its first rise. This is a bread we just found out about this summer in New England and is our "new favorite."

What is this new carb you speak of? Never heard of it, but always intrigued by new breads to try.

From Wikipedia: Anadama bread is a traditional bread of New England in the United States made with white flour, cornmeal, molasses and sometimes rye flour.

Origin in Rockport, MassachusettsIt is also not readily agreed exactly when or where the bread originated, except it existed before 1850 in Rockport, Massachusetts. It is thought to have come from the local fishing community[1][2], but it may have come through the Finnish community of local stonecutters.

Near the turn of the 20th century, it was baked by a man named Baker Knowlton on King Street in Rockport, MA and delivered in a horse-drawn cart to households in Rockport by men in blue smocks. In the 1940s, a Rockport restaurant owned by Bill and Melissa Smith called The Blacksmith Shop on Mt. Pleasant St. started baking the bread for their restaurant in a small bakery on Main St. They baked about 80 loaves a day until 1956, when they built a modern $250,000 bakery on Pooles Lane. They had 70 employees and 40 trucks which delivered Anadama bread all over New England.

The Anadama bread center of consumption was in Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts. It was commercially available from local bakeries widely on Cape Ann from the early 1900s until 1970, when the Anadama Bread Bakery on Pooles Lane in Rockport, MA closed due to Bill Smith's death. For a number of years, it was baked by small local bakeries at breakfast places on Cape Ann.

I used a "five star" recipe from All Recipes yesterday, but tried to get cute (even though I'm a pretty awful baker) and switched out some of the all purpose flour for whole wheat. The result was that the bread didn't rise as much as it probably should have and is extremely dense. It didn't seem like my recipe called for enough liquid. Next time I will try this recipe and will not deviate from it until I know what I am doing!http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/801/Anadama-Bread.html

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

Karen/NoCA wrote:To nigh was leftover Fusilli with Shrimp, Tomato and Basil with a side of roasted asparagus. Great dish!

That doesn't look like "leftovers" Karen! Yum!

This was my first time using Fusilli. I have never seen it in Redding. I found it at Trader Joe's! Love the heft of it. The dish also had some balsamic in it and the fusilli soaked it up fast. It had a nice layer of flavors going on, and topped off with grated Romano made it excellent.

Karen/NoCA wrote: This was my first time using Fusilli. I have never seen it in Redding. I found it at Trader Joe's! Love the heft of it. The dish also had some balsamic in it and the fusilli soaked it up fast. It had a nice layer of flavors going on, and topped off with grated Romano made it excellent.

Karen, why not just go ahead and give us a look at what you did to put this dish together. It looks like something I and the wife would like, and it wouldn't take me forever to put it together and on the table. I don't mind cooking, but hate that clean up. As an after thought, I wonder how it would pair with smoked salmon instead of the shrimp. Kind of 2 different dishes with just a little extra work. I could make both at the same time and freeze one. (maybe use a different pasta with one).

In shuffling through my Thanksgiving folder I ran across a recipe for Cauliflower with Capers and Raisins and it inspired me for tonight's side dish. A keeper. I separated the cauliflower into florets and par boiled them until crisp-tender. Near the end I added the golden raisins to plump them a bit. Drained the water, added olive oil, turmeric, curry powder and then pine nuts in place of the capers. Sauteed until all toasty brown. It was unbelievably good. Enjoyed it next to a simple pan-seared chopped lamb patty. This is the way I like to eat when I'm cooking for myself.

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

Carrie L. wrote:In shuffling through my Thanksgiving folder I ran across a recipe for Cauliflower with Capers and Raisins and it inspired me for tonight's side dish. A keeper. I separated the cauliflower into florets and par boiled them until crisp-tender. Near the end I added the golden raisins to plump them a bit. Drained the water, added olive oil, turmeric, curry powder and then pine nuts in place of the capers. Sauteed until all toasty brown. It was unbelievably good. Enjoyed it next to a simple pan-seared chopped lamb patty. This is the way I like to eat when I'm cooking for myself.

I think I have this recipe. Don't parboil the florets, though. Did your recipe call for anchovie fillets as part of the dish? Mine does. Start by sauteing anchovies in a bit of olive oil and butter with garlic, then add the cauliflower and layer in the capers and nuts a few minutes later. Love this dish.

"...To undersalt deliberately in the name of dietary chic is to omit from the music of cookery the indispensable bass line over which all tastes and smells form their harmonies." -- Robert Farrar Capon

Carrie L. wrote:In shuffling through my Thanksgiving folder I ran across a recipe for Cauliflower with Capers and Raisins and it inspired me for tonight's side dish. A keeper. I separated the cauliflower into florets and par boiled them until crisp-tender. Near the end I added the golden raisins to plump them a bit. Drained the water, added olive oil, turmeric, curry powder and then pine nuts in place of the capers. Sauteed until all toasty brown. It was unbelievably good. Enjoyed it next to a simple pan-seared chopped lamb patty. This is the way I like to eat when I'm cooking for myself.

I think I have this recipe. Don't parboil the florets, though. Did your recipe call for anchovie fillets as part of the dish? Mine does. Start by sauteing anchovies in a bit of olive oil and butter with garlic, then add the cauliflower and layer in the capers and nuts a few minutes later. Love this dish.

It was from Nov 2011 Bon Appetit, and yes, it called for 1 tsp anchovy paste (optional), as well as breadcrumbs and parsley. I will make it as written at some point. It sounds delicious. My version was definitely a keeper though too. The combination oof the browned cauliflower and golden brown pine nuts...yum. Will make again, but I'll have to wait until Len is away again. He wouldn't eat something like that. Actually, he doesn't really even like cauliflower.

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)

Tonight it is Flautas. I made beef broth last week with beef shanks. This is the meat I pulled from the shanks and shredded, mixed with the onion cooked along with the broth. I'm adding Hatch chilies,green onions,jack cheese, and sour cream. Meat goes into a pre crisped and rolled corn tortilla. They are baked until warmed through. I make a mix of chunked avocados, and red salsa to dip the flautas into. Serving with a radish and mixed greens salad with cumin. vinaigrette.

My wife dislikes salmon and is out of town right now, so when I came across some wild Scottish salmon at a good price, I jumped on it. Roasted it and served it over chive potato hash with a little dill cream and sauteed broccolini.

Mike Filigenzi wrote:My wife dislikes salmon and is out of town right now, so when I came across some wild Scottish salmon at a good price, I jumped on it. Roasted it and served it over chive potato hash with a little dill cream and sauteed broccolini.

Yum. That sounds great. Len doesn't like salmon either, so I usually buy myself a fillet of it, and get him Mahi Mahi or Swordfish. In fact, we had that last night!

Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)